Rising commemorated with defiance and purpose

A “large-scale, anti-Republican operation” was reported as the Crown Forces deployed across Belfast ahead of several Easter commemorations in the city over the weekend.

The Irish Republican Socialist Party, which organised its main parade on the Falls Road on Sunday, said parade organisers and participants have been subjected to stop and search tactics with several armed PSNI units had been deployed along the traditional parade route.

“Let us be clear — Republicans will not be intimidated, harassed, or deterred from honouring our fallen comrades,” they said.

“We will remember with pride those who gave their lives for Irish freedom and in defence of our communities.

One of the largest to be held in Belfast, the parade led by a large colour party began on the Falls Road and made its way in bright sunshine to Milltown cemetery, where the main oration was delivered by Sean Carlin.

He slammed what he said were growing attempts by the PSNI to criminalise republicans for honouring our dead.

“Across the country, we’ve witnessed a disturbing increase in harassment targeting those who dare to remember our fallen. Commemorations are being policed like crimes. Republicans are being charged and convicted for simply carrying flags, wearing emblems, or attending memorials.

“Let’s be clear — this is a deliberate campaign to criminalise our memory, our history, and our identity. And it is being allowed to happen.

“Stormont — in all its hollow posturing — has failed to protect even the most basic rights of Republicans. They have stood silent as our struggle is once again subjected to the tools of criminalisation — a direct continuation of Thatcherite policy, dressed in a new uniform.

“The IRSP stands firm: no matter your political affiliation, everyone has the right to honour their dead. We will not be bullied. We will not be intimidated. You failed to silence us in 1981, and you will fail again today.”

There was also a heavy police presence in Newry, where Saoradh held a second wreath-laying ceremony. Several armoured Land Rovers encircled the cemetery, some equipped with surveillance cameras, while a notice was erected warning attendees that the event constituted an “unnotified procession.”

“This claim was particularly absurd, given that there was no procession of any kind, only a quiet, dignified gathering at a graveside,” Saoradh said.

“Such an overblown and confrontational response can only be interpreted as an attempt to intimidate and antagonise those who came simply to honour their dead.”

Thousands took part in the annual National Graves Association Belfast procession from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery, which was supported by Sinn Féin and addressed by Pearse Doherty TD.

“Let us build a republic worthy of our patriots” he told the rally, the largest of the weekend.

“This Easter we remember every single man and woman who gave their lives in the pursuit for Irish freedom and we salute them.

“Theirs is a legacy of bravery of courage and of enduring hope.”

“And I encourage you today, as we gather here at this commemoration, as Republicans do right across the island to remember them not with mourning alone but with pride and with renewed purpose on this special day.

“We honour the heroes of Easter week of 1916 and all of those who carried the flame since and we recommit ourselves to the vision that they had a united and free and equal Ireland.”

Two of Sinn Féin’s highest profile events mark the 109th anniversary of the 1916 Easter rising took place in County Tyrone.

One was addressed by First Minister Michelle O’Neill, who said that Ireland is living in “the end days of partition” and renewed her call for a border poll vote on reunification by 2030.

Attending her first republican Easter commemoration since becoming First Minister, Ms O’Neill gave an oration on Saturday to a crowd at the republican plot in Coalisland graveyard.

Honouring “the sacrifices that were made by those during Easter week of 1916” as well as “every generation before and since,” she said: ”Ordinary people born in extraordinary times and today we’re very mindful and thoughtful of all the families of those that have lost and we’re particularly thinking of you all today.

“Everybody has a right to respectfully remember their dead.”

Stating that republicans were witnessing “a pivotal moment in history” and that a border poll should be held by the end of the decade, she also told the crowd: “We are living in the end days of partition.”

On Sunday, Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald addressed an event in Carrickmore, County Tyrone, where she said the island faced a “time of great change”.

Ms McDonald echoed her party colleagues statement that the island was “living in the end days of partition”.

“The conversation is live, happening in real time. We must prepare for Unity referendums this decade. We have work to do. We must build alliances across all sections of society,” Ms McDonald said.

“We must drive positive, persuasive campaigns in every corner of this island. We must prepare to win these referendums and win them well.”

The Sinn Féin leader said the north is a “very different place” to how it was before the Good Friday Agreement.

“Together, communities are building a future of hope and progress for everyone,” she said.

“We see this new, inclusive future forming in the advances in Irish language rights. We see it too in the passion of northern Gael’s for our national games. Let me be clear. Casement Park must be built. Casement Park will be built.”

Ms McDonald said people must prepare for unity referendums “this decade” adding: “We have work to do. We must build alliances across all sections of society. We must drive positive, persuasive campaigns in every corner of this island. We must prepare to win these referendums and win them well.”

One of the largest Easter parades also made its way through Carrickmore, County Tyrone on Monday, organised by the Tyrone National Graves Association.

Séana Quinn, whose brother Dwayne O’Donnell, one of three IRA members killed along with a civilian during a loyalist attack in Cappagh in 1991, read the 1916 Proclamation to those attending.

Caoimhe Ní Loingsigh, whose uncles Seán and Pádraig McKearney, both members of the IRA, who were also killed during the conflict, read the County Tyrone Roll of Honour.

During his address Eamonn Hanna, chair of Tyrone National Graves Association, quoted former Belfast republican Brendan ‘The Dark’ Hughes who questioned the “wisdom of administering British rule in this part of Ireland”.

“Some who have stood here throughout the generations would advocate this while talking of the sacrifice of our patriot dead,” he said.

“Using that sacrifice to justify acknowledging the very crown and empire the sacrifice was made to defeat.

“We stand here in defiance of that crown and empire that has tried to wipe our nation from the face of the earth and that has enchanted and bought the hearts of too many in our country.”

He went on to tell those attending that an all-Ireland republic is obtainable.

“Our Republic can be achieved, it can be a reality,” he said.

“A Republic of the people, for the people. We must have the confidence to proclaim this loud and clear.”

Mr Hanna said republicans must seek the “immediate re-unification of Ireland”.

“Democracy in Ireland has been denied by Britain who continue to impose a border in Ireland by partitioning the country through the threat of violence and subjecting six counties of Ireland to ongoing British rule,” he said.

In Bellaghy, County Derry, the second annual joint Easter commemoration by the 1916 Societies and Éirígí was held under bright sunshine.

The parade on Sunday was led by a solo piper followed by a coloured party, then the crowd. It made its way up to Bellaghy chappel and graveyard to the graves of Francis Hughes and Thomas McElwee, where the 1916 Proclamation and South Derry Republican roll of honour was read, alongside poems and song in dedication to the Volunteers.

There where wreaths laid and lowering of the Tricolour to honour fallen comrades, before the main oration by 1916 Societies Chairman Pól O’Scannell.

He said there was a better way forward with their ‘One Ireland One Vote’ campaign - a campaign for a single all-island referendum in unification.

He said: “We believe that the Irish people and the Irish people alone must decide our own future without interference from the British. We believe that the votes of people from Kerry to Derry and Antrim to Wexford should count equally in a people’s referendum.”

Republican Sinn Fein held its largest commemoration in Lurgan, where young people were urged to promote the party’s ‘Éire Nua’ policy for a federal Ireland. Members and supporters of the party attended a Garden of Remembrance in the Kilwilkie Estate in the town on Saturday afternoon.

A four-man masked colour party dressed in military-style clothing formed at the garden as wreaths were laid during the short commemoration to mark the events of Easter Week 1916.

Veteran Fermanagh republican John Joe McCusker delivered the main in address, stating his view nothing has changed in the north.

“The six occupied counties are still economically disadvantaged, with the vast majority living in a low wage economy,” he said.

“The situation has always been so, from the inception of the state, this situation was sponsored by the English imperialist, and the leopard doesn’t change its spots, why would an English government allow and nurture the population to grow in the north of Ireland?

“Allowing nationalists and republicans the numbers for a united Ireland.”

The Fermanagh republican also spoke directly to unionists saying “those still in favour of union with England should look again, and help us all to take control of our own affairs”.

“You might believe that you have some solid cause, well it is not economics, and economics is a growing and urgent problem,” he said.

A statement was also read in the name of the leadership of the movement by a member of the colour party, denouncing the Stormont administration.

“We will shall not fail when it comes to furthering the cause of Irish freedom,” the statement said.

“Irish freedom will never be accomplished by attending these British created assemblies.”

Those taking part in the commemoration later made their way to nearby St Colman’s Cemetery where wreaths were placed at the republican plot and the graves of local republicans.

Meanwhile, a new organisation called Éire Nua, which includes former members of Republican Sinn Féin and Sinn Féin, held its first Easter ceremonies.

In an Easter statement the party said its new Irish Unity Program would “empower the four historic provinces while addressing the conflict in the six counties through decentralised government”.

It also said “the republican demand for an Irish Unity referendum is growing”.

Arbour Hill in Dublin played host to several Easter events, including those by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, which heard a call for a ‘Second Republic’ to “serve its people and not itself be a servant to the political class”; while Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín used his party’s commemoration to call for voting rights for the Irish Presidential election to be extended across the island.

Further Easter commemorations take place in Derry and Belfast next weekend as ‘Republic Day’, the calendar anniversary of the declaration of the Irish Republic, is marked by a number of organisations.

Urgent Appeal